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Directions on How Not to Give in to Despair

Notice the buttercup’s silky petals, tipping their mouths to the sun.
Feel the hot breath of the dandelions on your bare arms.
Count on your fingers: smooth blue skies, lilacs going for broke,
     wildflowers in a jam jar.
Hang your parka in the back of the closet.
Put on a new pink sweater; paint your toenails with gold sparkles.
There are pale new leaves on every twig, branch, and stem.
Remember, the grass greens up, regardless.

Barbara Crooker is the author of nine books of poetry, including Some Glad Morning (Pitt Poetry Series). Her work has appeared in many anthologies, including The Bedford Introduction to Literature, Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, The Poetry of Presence, and Healing the Divide: Poems of Kinship and Compassion.

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